The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to implement a ''cold storage price'' for onions to lower prices in markets.

In an interview with dzBB, Assistant Agriculture Secretary Kristine Evangelista said traders agreed to set the “cold storage price” for red onions at P115 per kilo and P100 per kilo for white onions during their stakeholders' meeting on Friday.

“Right now, we are also setting a price where the retailers get their supply of onions. During the stakeholders meeting we called it the cold storage price because we said the onions are being sold to traders. Then these traders are the ones who put them in storage facilities,” Evangelista said.

“The cold storage price is P115 for red onions and P100 for white onions. We have decided on that price so that when it reaches the retailers, they can sell it at the P150 and P140 in the market,” she added.

“During the stakeholders meeting, the traders themselves have agreed to post wholesale price in their cold storage facilities,” she said.

Evangelista said the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and the field inspectorate will be watching the inflow and outflow of onions in the cold storage facilities so they can also watch the price movement.

The DA is aiming to implement and enforce the suggested retail price (SRP) of onions, which is P150 per kilo for red onions and P140 for white onions on Tuesday.

“Tomorrow, we will make our rounds and ask vendors about their onion prices so we can help them sell at the right price. Hopefully, we will be implementing and enforcing (the SRP) by Tuesday. But definitely, we are looking at imposing it this week,” Evangelista said.

Based on the DA’s price monitoring, both local red and white onions were sold up from P160 to P200 as of Friday.

The DA has been monitoring onion prices after it zoomed during the Christmas holidays, surpassing the minimum wage at the National Capital Region of P570 a kilo. Jaspearl Tan/DMS